Friday, July 5, 2013

I'm back in the Balkans baby! From Dubrovnik, it is only 92 km (57 miles), about 1 hour 40 minutes to Kotor, Montenegro. Kotor is a coastal town on the Gulf of Kotor. The town has just over 13,500 residents.

Kotor was founded in the 5th century BC and was settled by the Romans as Acruvium. During the Middle Ages it was an important commercial center.

The city has been ruled by the Byzantines, Serbia and the Venetians. It was under Hungarian control before becoming an independent republic. Then it was back under the Venetians, followed by the French and then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After WWI it was part of Yugoslavia before it became part of Italy in WWII. After the war, it once again was part of Yugoslavia.

Kotor has one of the best preserved medieval old towns along the Adriatic. In 1979, the Natural and Cultural-Historical Region of Kotor was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Stari Grad, the Old Town, is home to the majority of sights. The main gate was built in the 16th century.

The walls around the city stretch for 4.5 km (3 miles) above the city.

St. Tryphon's Cathedral was consecrated in 1166 and the chapel is home to the remains of Kotor's patron saint. The interior features some 14th century frescoes.

St. Nicholas' Church is the town's biggest Orthodox church and dates back to 1902.

St. Luke's Church is tiny. This Romanesque-Byzantine church was built in 1195. It was a Catholic church until the mid-17th century. Since then it has been a part of the Orthodox community.

Panaramic shot from Mt. Lovćen

The Bay of Kotor is about 28 km (~17.5 miles) long from the city harbor to the open sea. You can get a great view of the bay from Mt. Lovćen.

From here you can also get a view of the road shaped like an 'M', in honor of Milena, the Princess of Montenegro.

Out in the bay is the Our Lady of the Rocks. The story goes that sailors found an icon of the Virgin Mary on a rock in the sea in 1452. So after every successful voyage, a rock was laid where the picture was found so that one day a church could be built on top of the rocks. The tradition continued and over the course of a few centuries the islet was formed.

Kotor is a beautiful little town. The Old Town with its small passages has a lot of charm. It has become a port of call for several cruise ships.

2 comments:

Is there an IBM headquartered in Brno. Brno is nice...used to live in Plzen and Prague, and Budapest.....good area for travel. I'm looking for something a little more quaint and remote/rural, with a distinctly host country rural feel....I'm thinking back to Romania. COol blog, thanks.